Despite making up 39% of the global labour force women only account for

16% of the traditional energy sector. For management levels the numbers are
even lower. The barriers women face in the energy sector are similar to those
they face elsewhere in the economy. However, the challenges of the energy
sector are more pressing since the sector is going through a process of
transformation. Clean energy transitions will require innovative solutions and
business models to be adopted and greater participation from a diverse talent
pool.

Meanwhile, the lack of access to energy or to clean cooking fuels particularly

impacts women, limiting their work options, exposing them to health risks, and
forcing them to forage for wood or other combustible materials.

At the IEA Ministerial 2019, Ministers from IEA countries endorsed Agency
efforts to build up and share knowledge related to equal opportunities in the
energy sector. Below, find out more about our programmes and initiatives, as
well as IEA countries’ actions to support gender equality in the energy sector.
In line with previous studies, we find significantly fewer women working in the energy
sector compared to men. In relative terms the gap is more than twice as large as it is
in the non-energy sector. In addition, wages for female employees are almost 20%
lower than for male employees, with the gap being somewhat greater than in non-
energy firms. Significantly, the wage gap remains approximately the same when
other factors are accounted for, indicating that the gap is not a function of gender
differences in skill levels within firms.

The report below draws upon matched employer-employee data collected as part of
the OECD LinkEED project. Bringing together employer and employee data in a
single framework allows for the analysis of the role of the firm in determining workers'
wages, as well as the role of worker characteristics such as skills and gender for
firm-level outcomes.
Understanding Gender Gaps in Wages, Employment and Career Trajectories in the
Energy Sector

The energy sector has historically been a male-dominated field and its
workforce continues to be unrepresentative of the population and workforce at
large. On average, there are 76% fewer women than men working in the
energy sector, a significant difference from the average 8% gap seen in the
total workforce, according to 2018 data from 29 countries (including 22 IEA
members).